Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Happy Holidays! Hanukah starts today, Krampus Night and St. Nick's have already past. The Solstice/Yule, Christmas, and the Twelve Days are on the way. Good times. At present, I am deep into writing the first piece of the "Goldenrod Conventions" for the Swords & Wizardry SRD! Many thanks to +John Reyst for giving me a shot here. Additionally, the S&W Compatible Logo is still underway. I will make a grand announcement upon it's completion. Until then, Scrooge:

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Good evening. I apologize for my lack of posting in the past week. Last week I was a bit ill, and things kicked up a bit at work. That did not bode well for me. As an update, the Swords & Wizardry Compatible creative commons logo is currently being worked on. With the holidays upon us and writing needing to be done for the first Goldenrod booklets, I will likely not be posting very often in the next couple weeks. Couple that with the fact that I have a child with a birthday just days before Christmas. It's going to be a busy month. Anyhoo... with winter upon us, I give you Hoth.

Monday, December 1, 2014

So, I've had plenty of time to go over things, and it's time to announce the winners of the Swords & Wizardry Compatible Logo Design Contest. As I had said before, I had some ideas of my own that we were tinkering with. We've looked at a couple of the ideas presented to us, and I've mashed up my idea with the 1st place idea! I think you'll like it, once we get a final version up. After we have it completed, I will unveil it here.

1st place goes to Ken Johnson. Ken, you have an email asking for your address so I can get your prizes out.

2nd place goes to +Erik Tenkar. I actually had a very similar idea to the one you submitted. So, care to share what it feels like to be on the receiving end of one of these contests?

3rd place goes to +James Spahn. I really love the idea behind this submission. I just don't think that it will work as a logo, as the logo will end up being too small to read in this format, on some works.

Curious as to what the submissions were? I'll reveal that when the logo itself is revealed in the coming weeks.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Just a reminder that the deadline for the Swords & Wizardry Compatible Logo Contest is tomorrow! Please have your submissions in no later than 11-27-2014. Now, I present to you the closest thing to a Thanksgiving Feast that I could find in the Hildebrandt archives.

I arrived at the hotel the evening prior to U-con. As I had planned, I hung down in the lobby with other members of the staff while passing out pre-registered packets. I then met up with +Jim Wampler and +Tim Snider for a brief moment. Both turned in after long drives from Ohio. We had talked previously about getting a pre-con game going, but with folks turning in early, there was not much chance of that happening. I notified +Adam Muszkiewicz of the situation. At the time he was elbow deep in some urgent plumbing, but decided that after that task was accomplished pints full of good stuff would be in order.

I met with Adam at The Taproom (which turned out to be all of five minutes away from the hotel) around 10:00 PM. For a short time we were joined by U-Con's own +Shane Harsch. We threw back some pints of Hideout Brewery Hazelnut Stouts and had good, mostly gaming related, conversation. All in all it was a good night, but I think that when Adam threw a last minute whisky in the mix, he may have overstepped his bounds. I could not go so far myself, as I had a game to run bright and early Friday morning. I turned in, possibly, a bit too late for having a game in the morning.

Friday

I awoke Friday morning to find that I was A-O.K. No over-drinking here. I grabbed a bite and headed to the OSR Track room, where I was to spend most of the rest of my day (14 hours straight mind you.) I opened up the day running Pacesetter Games & Simulations' Q2 "Eruptor's Vengence" using Sword's & Wizardry. I met some really good folks during this game, including +Andrew Moss and +Brett Slocum . It's actually amazing that I had never met Brett before, as we have both been regulars at U-con for some time. The session was highly enjoyable, and we ended up with an additional player as another slated S&W game fell through. To my delight, the first combat of the session nearly ended in a TPK. That is the proper way to start out your OSR gaming event, just in case anyone was wondering. I won't say much more about the session, to avoid spoilers, but I will say, that if you are an OSR GM, in particular a fan of S&W/0E or OSRIC/1E this will be up your alley.

Friday afternoon I ran another module by Pacesetter Games & Simulations (anyone seeing a pattern here?) This time it was on to Q1 "The Screaming Temple." The game was quickly thwarted by +Andrew Moss, who alerted all of the temple guards to the existence of the party right away. The temple burnt to the ground and we only got a 2-1/2 hour session out of the game. This was a bit of a relief on my end, as it gave me a break in the day. Unfortunately I was a dumb jerk to myself and, rather than grabbing a much needed meal, I spent time in the dealer room where I met with local friends, along with Tim Snider at the Goblinoid Games booth. Tim was kind enough to sign copies of both "Cryptworld" and "Deviant Database" for me. I also met up with +Roy Snyder at the Goodman Games Booth. I ended up picking us some Goodman merch, along with some old TSR and Judges Guild stuff that I had been missing in my collection.

From my excursion to the vendor room, I immediately returned to the OSR Track room for the 6:00 PM panel discussion about "defining the OSR." The panel featured all three guests that were able to make it out, Jim, Tim and +Doug Kovacs plus Adam and myself. Overall it went well for what we intended to accomplish, and the audience got involved as well. Judge Jim was kind enough to record the whole thing and you can listen to it here on Save or Die.

Following this I "played" in Adam's DCC game "A Tree Falls in the Woods." By following, I mean directly. As in the seminar ran slightly overtime straight into Adam's time slot. Unfortunately, I wasn't any use to anyone in the game, and I felt bad for it. A full day of activity combined with a lack of any meals had done me in and I was completely out of it. Lucky for me, my character only had 5 Intelligence! Still, I felt bad.

After Adam's game I was intent on finding someplace that was serving food all night. To my delight I found that the catering company that was handling food during the con was serving midnight hot dogs, so I didn't have to go out in the cold to grab a bite. As I was walking past the bar in the hotel, some of the other staff said to come on over and join in what was remaining of a "Drinks with Rodney Thompson" thing that was going on. For those too Old School to realize or know, Rodney was the lead designer on both the new iteration of D&D and the Star Wars Saga Edition. So, my tired butt went over and sat down at the table with them, where I ate some "Happy Birthday D&D" cake. It probably took my exhausted mind about fifteen minutes to realize that I was sitting next to Rodney. I listened to what he was saying (most of which in my sleepiness is now lost to me) and didn't really say a word to him about games at all. In fact the only thing that I think came out of my mouth while sitting there was something to the effect of "I don't really like hoppy beers either, but I had this really good stout last night." After that, I headed to bed.

Saturday
For those who don't know, Michigan's own Bill Barsh of Pacesetter Games & Simulations was slated to be one of our guests at the convention. He even had a special release lined up for the con. Unfortunately, indie games designers tend to have to have real world jobs as well, and his kept him from making it down. However, his son was down running his booth. I had agreed to help out by running his U-Con release, his stead, not having ever read it before. Saturday morning I headed down to the vendor room to grab a copy that I could use for the session in the afternoon. Now, this was also slated to run on OSRIC/1E. Mind you, it had been many years since I had run 1E. So, never having delved into the module, and being rusty with the system (hey I tend to run C&C and S&W, sue me) I took the module back up to my room and began to delve into the system and module like a college student cramming for an 8:00 AM exam at 4:30 AM. Lucky for me, I found the module to be VERY cool and sank right in. The module: GC3: It Crawled From Below was a hit with my table. I greatly enjoyed running it thanks to both it's author and my players! Without giving away any spoilers, GC3 is the third part of a "Game Convention" release series that Bill has. All three parts are excellent can come as in both OSR and 5E flavors. I highly recommend them, and will likely be doing a review of each of them in the near future. I also managed to nab a few of the modules from Pacesetter G&S's line that I was missing in my own hoard, due to a great sale that they had going on for the con.

Following this, I had a break for a couple of hours in which I had and excellent dinner with Doug, Jim, Shane, Adam, +James DeYonke and +Stefan Poag. This was one of the few chances that I had to kick back and just hang out with friends and track guests. Following dinner I had a big decision ahead of me. There were two games that I actually wanted to take part in Saturday night (well, three, but everything that Doug was running had been sold out for some time.) The first was Tim running Cryptworld. Apparently no one else wanted to play Cryptworld, which is unfortunate, because it really is a great game. That left me with only one choice, and that was Dave Perrin's Swords & Wizardry game. Now, Dave has played in at least one of my games every U-con since I began running as a referee at U-con. I've been meaning to play in one of his games for a long time, but something always gets in the way. I'm glad that I got to play. The players consisted of one of Dave's friends and his kid, Dave's own son and myself. The family friendly game reminded me somewhat of my 2nd Edition days. It was pretty good, and having kids there helped me to see that in person, as I have a seven year old daughter who is starting to show some interest in gaming. After the game was finished, I tidied up our room a bit while Roy was still running his DCC game for Tim, Adam and +Pete Schwab. The game was running really late, so Doug and I headed down to grab a beer from the bar. As a side note, Boston Lager is always a better beer than I ever give it credit for when I'm not drinking it. We headed back up to the track room to find the game still going on. So we chatted a bit, which I was glad for, as I hadn't gotten much time to talk with Doug prior. So, we talked about all of the things that you would expect and old school ref. and an artist known for his art in the gaming industry would discuss. Chiefly geographical prejudice around the world and linguistics. Honestly, after the fourteen hour marathon the day before and all of the gaming on Saturday, it was a welcome change of pace. A little after 1:00 AM we got Roy to wrap it up.

Sunday
Sunday morning I woke up, checked out of the hotel and got my tired ass up to Jim Wampler's 0-level Mutant Crawl Classics funnel. I arrived to find the event overbooked due to being late and someone with generic tickets moving into my slot. It was all good as Shane Harsch offered to share a 0-level with me. It was fun, but yet again, I was too tired, and possibly focused too much on my 1:00 game that I wasn't much help. Still, if you like DCC and Gamma World, pick this up when it comes out. Jim has done a bang up job on this thing! By the way, my one level 0 was killed trying to figure out how to use "something shiny."

1:00 PM rolled around and it was time to run my last game of the weekend. For the second year, I pulled out the first module written outside of a rules supplement. Armed with my copy of the Pacesetter re-print of "Palace of the Vampire Queen" I set about running the classic reprint on the "classic" clone of the original rules. The table filled up nicely for the now "annual" Swords & Wizardry "PotVQ" game. This year the party didn't actually get TPK'd. Well, not in game anyway. We ran out of time, but knowing what I know about where they were... Anyway, +Forest Ray, a great member of the OSR and long time con attendee, was the winner of the event this year and walked away with a copy o PotVQ that I have picked up as a prize for my winner this year. Shortly after my last game I said goodbye to anyone that I could find from the staff and headed home. And that, as they say, is that.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

UPDATE!I have received more prize support for this contest! I have an extra set of dice, as well as Pacesetter Games OSR modules! Now we have three tiers of winner. The ideas that we like best will all be played with, possibly combined etc. in the forming of the logo. The three winner tiers prizes are as follows:1st place - 8 pc set of out of production Windmill Hobbies dice, Pacesetter Games & Simulations modules: TM4 - Legacy of the Forbidden City and Q1 - The Screaming Temple.2nd place - 8 pc set of out of production Windmill Hobbies dice, Pacesetter Games & Simulations module RC3/Q2 - Eruptor's Vengence3rd place - Pacesetter Games & Simulations module - Q3 - Death on Signal Island

For details on the contest, please See the original message below. Remember, Thanksgiving is the last day that entry's will be accepted.

---
Hey everyone. Some of you are likely already in the know that the artist that designed the Gamers & Grognards logo and I are going to be creating a "Swords & Wizardry Compatible" creative commons logo that you can slap on the stuff that you make/sell for S&W. I've already thrown my idea at him. That said, I thought we could have a little fun.

Starting today, we will be running a contest. I want you to pitch me a logo. Like I said, I have one in mind, so you need a good logo. It's going to be difficult to make me like it better than my own (I'm my own biggest fan you know.) That said, the idea I like the best, whether we use it or not, will win a prize. What is this prize you ask? I have in my possession for the Gamers & Grognards Old School ebay store, a set of mixed Windmill Hobbies sharp edged dice from the 1970s. These babies are brand new, last made in 1979. Like all good dice, you have to ink them yourself. The set is 5 dice 1d20 (marked 0-9 twice, 1d12, 1d8, 1d6, and 1d4 plus an extra d20 and d12 in mixed colors (think of them as Ugly Dice.) These are yours if I like your idea the best.

Now, here is what I need from you:

1. An description of an image. Must be something that will be recognizable in a small image (think of the Wizard on the S&W Complete logo or the Old Lizard and Wizard on the 70's TSR logos.) I only want descriptions or very rough sketches, as +Christopher Arendt will be doing the actually design.

2. A font and layout for the words "Swords & Wizardry Compatible." You can just list the font and describe the layout, if you don't care to make it into a sample copy.

3. Send this off to me at treewytch_at_yahoo_dot_com. Please list "Swords & Wizardry Logo Design Contest" as the subject if you want me to look at it.

Both the image and layout should in some way reflect that this is compatible with Swords & Wizardry and OD&D.

That's it. The contest will end one week from today on Thursday, November 27 2014 (that's Thanksgiving day for all of the U.S. Citizens out there.) Get it in, I intend to start judging when I get back from my Thanksgiving dinner.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Unless you aren't a regular reader, or don't belong to any groups/communities that I share with (most will read this as "spam") you will know that I helped to coordinate an OSR track at this year's U-Con. The con was this past weekend and went very well. On the OSR Track everything went smoothly (if you were in attendance and saw something contrary to this, please contact me and let me know.) Most of our games were full and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Our track's guests +Doug Kovacs, +Jim Wampler and +Tim Snider were all a pleasure to have, I only wish that I had had more time to actually spend with them, but managing the OSR room and running games takes time.

I would like to take a moment to thank the people that made it possible for this track to happen, and make it run so smoothly. I would like to give a special thanks to all three of the guests who were able to make it out, you guys were all great. Thanks for everything that you did, from you games, to booths to the roundtable discussion. It was pleasure to have you all, and I hope that you will consider coming back again. Secondly, I would like to thank the con staff. The staff at U-Con does such a great job a creating a very comfortable con atmosphere, and are so warm and inviting. For this and other reasons several OSR gamers decided last year that we should seek to have our own track here. Without this staff and how they handle the con, we may never have asked. So, to all of you, thanks for doing what you do and being who you are, not to mention the sheer amount of work that you all put into this con. Lastly, I would like to thank all of my GMs, Judges, Referees and DMs. Without you and your enthusiasm for OSR Gaming, there would have been no track. Thanks for liking what you like and working hard to run it at the con. I hope that you all want to run again next year.

I'll be doing a follow up synopsis post in a few days telling everyone exactly what I ran and played and an exact count as to exactly how many ioun stones were really in orbit around Doug's head last weekend. Until then, if you were in attendance as a player, GM or guest, please take time to fill out the U-Con 2014 Survey. If you have something specific to say about the OSR Track, another game that you played, the con itself, the staff, or anything else PLEASE use the comments section so that we know how your experience was. You the Con goer are important to the staff. Without you, we wouldn't have a con.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

What
do we have in store in the new OSR Track this year at U-Con? Plenty
of awesome things. That's what. Just take a look as some of the
featured events! If you have not registered yet, click the link on this blog and do so!

Friday

What
Is This OSR Thing Anyway?: Friday
evening at 6:00 PM we bring you four OSR Industry Insiders along with
two of Michigan's most prolific OSR bloggers together on a panel to
tackle what has, again become as hot topic. That topic is the
question “What, exactly, is the OSR.” Join, Doug Kovacs (Of DCC
RPG art and cartography fame,) Jim Wampler (creator of Marvin the
Mage and one of the host of the “Spell Burn” and “Save or Die”
podasts,) Tim Snider (author of the Mutant Future supplement “Deviant
Database” and co-author of the horror game system “Cryptworld”,)
Bill Barsh (president and author of Pacesetter
Games & Simulations modules)
along with Adam
Muskiewicz (of the Dispatches
from
Kickassistan blog and editor of the “Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad” DCC
zine) and Ryan Thompson (writer of the Gamers & Grognards blog)
to hammer out this long standing debate!

Mutant
Future: Gimme Shelter III: Down to Earth
– Join Tim Snider, a Mutant Lord who knows loves the Mutant Future
like none other, in this special event, part three of “Gimme
Shelter” the third part in a series that he has been releasing as
free modules for your post apocalyptic needs!

Saturday

AD&D:
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks:
Saturday, in honor of this year's theme: 40 Years of D&D, DM
Shawn Dry is bringing us a special treat! Shawn will be running
“Expedition to the Barrier Peaks” on it's intended system “AD&D”
in it's entirety! To accomplish this Shawn will run this classic
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons module in three parts over three time
slots during the day. The adventure begins at 9:00 AM and continues
through the day in the 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM time slots! So this begs
the question: Are you old school enough to tackle this entire
adventure in one day?

Mutant
Crawl Classics RPG: The Warlord of ATOZ:
U-Con is proud to present a demo game of the up and coming “Mutant
Crawl Classics RPG” being run by none other than “Spell burn's”
Jim Wampler! If you love DCC and Post Apocalyptic scenarios, you
won't want to miss out on this!

AD&D
1e/OSRIC: Game with the Creator: It Rose From Below:
The discerning grognard will not want to miss out on a new release
for 1st
Edition play. Join president of Pacesetter
Games & Simulations, Bill
Barsh as he runs a special U-Con release, never seen before made to
be played with the AD&D/OSRIC rules! This will be the first time
the module is publicly played or seen! Be their if you're a fan of
old school AD&D!

A
strange tower shows up in the village square overnight. A void-eyed
wizard emerges from the tower and declares "Your world is lost!
Join me and you will be saved!" Then the wizard disappears into
the tower again. Hilarity ensues.

Sunday

Mutant
Crawl Classics RPG: The Museum at the End of Time:
Bring
your breakfast Sunday Morning and join Judge Jim as he presents you
with an early look at what a 0-Level funnel looks like in the
post-apocalypse! Another demo of the as yet to be released “Mutant
Crawl Classics!”

Swords
& Wizardry Complete: Palace of the Vampire Queen:
What
do you get when you combine a clone of the first version of D&D
created, with the first ever publish module? A great way to
celebrate 40 Years of D&D is what! Join Referee Ryan Thompson
and the Michigan OSR in an epic close to a perfect weekend as we
celebrate the 40th
Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons as only the OSR can!

We
will be hosting the first-ever published full-length module, "Palace
of the Vampire Queen," being run with the popular clone of the
Original Dungeons & Dragons rules, Swords & Wizardry
Complete! We hope you can join us for this event to close out the
weekend! For 3 centuries the peasants of the Dwarvish island of
Baylor have feared the raids of the Vampire Queen and her minions.
Sweeping down at night from the palace in the shrouded peaks of the
island, they range ever farther in their search for blood. And not
only blood--the children of dwarf peasants often disappear if they
are so unfortunate as to be out at night. Even the cities are no
longer safe. The most recent victim was the Princess of Baylor,
daughter of King Arman, who was taken in a midnight raid on the
capital city of Ar Toe within the past weeks. King Arman has offered
fabulous riches and land holdings with titles to the person or
persons who can brace the stronghold of the Vampire Queen and return
his daughter to him alive and well. But, in truth, he holds little
hope. For even King Arman, Ruler of Baylor, Defeater of the Ten Orc
Tribes, is afraid in his heart to face the Vampire Queen.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Well, as promised, I present you all with the U-Con OSR Track schedule! If you have not yet registered and are thinking about going, I suggest that you get on it! We already have a couple events booked up! You can register here. You will notice we have a few really cool events involving our Guests of Honor +Doug Kovacs, +Jim Wampler, +Tim Snider and Bill Barsh of Pacesetter Games, who will have a special release for U-Con! This year I intend to begin a new tradition. A trophy of some sort will be given to the winner of my annual running of "Palace of the Vampire Queen." If you have any questions, please ask me via G+ or Facebook. As always, be excellent to eachother and FIGHT ON!

Friday

10a 3942 Swords & Wizardry: Eruptor's Vengeance, GM: Ryan Thompson, 10 players, No XP/Simple, Friday 10a-2p. In a forest glade a horrific battle has ended in a draw with all the combatants lying in ruin. A red dragon and its attackers have all fallen in glorious battle. Now the race is on to recover the dragon's treasure horde. However, tangling with a dead dragon can be a dangerous enterprise. Family Friendly (7+) $3.00

2p 3929 Swords & Wizardry Complete (Introduction to S&W): The Screaming Temple, GM: Ryan Thompson, 10 players, No XP/Simple, Friday 2p-6p. The temple arose in the span of a single night! Tall walls hide a mysterious temple steeped in obscurity. Rumors of incredible wealth, abhorrent evil, and dark magic swirl about its secretive walls. The local authorities have shown no interest, yet rumors persist. But no one can claim knowledge of the temple. No priests have been seen, no markings adorn its walls . . . in fact, no person has come out or gone in. The only signs of life are the occasional nightmarish screams that shatter the night. This is an introduction to Swords & Wizardry. Rules will be taught through play, pre-gens will be provided. Family Friendly (7+) $3.00

3p 3859 Dungeon Crawl Classics: Elzemon and the Blood-Drinking Box, GM: Roy Snyder, 8 players, No XP/Simple, Friday 3p-7p. Dungeon Crawl Classics Special Module: Elzemon and the Blood-Drinking Box, a level 1 adventure by Terry Olson. You're an adventurer: a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. Seeking the favor of a powerful wizard, the party agrees to steal an artifact from a rival's sanctum. The wizard requires, however, that PCs "feed" the artifact lawful blood to imprison its contents! Return to the glory days of fantasy with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Adventure as 1974 intended you to, with modern rules grounded in the origins of sword and sorcery. Fast play, cryptic secrets, and a mysterious past await you. General Audience (13+) $3.00

7p 3848 Dungeon Crawl Classics: A Tree Falls in the Forest, GM: Adam Muszkiewicz, 8 players, Some XP/Average, Friday 7p-12a. Hideous beasts have suddenly emerged from the depths of the forest and ravage the countryside! Can the PCs solve the mystery of their origin and stem the tide of death before it's too late? A Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure for level 2 characters. Adults Only (18+) $3.00

8p 3880 Mutant Future: Mystery of the Spideriods , GM: Forest Ray, 6 players, No XP/Simple, Friday 8p-11p. OH NO! The spideriods have invaded your village (again) and now it is up to you to end the threat. You will face danger, but if you survive you may solve the mystery and save your village. Characters will be created at game time. General Audience (13+) $3.00 3890 Mutant Future: Gimme Shelter III: Down to Earth, GM: Tim Snider, 6 players, No XP/Simple, Friday 8p-12a. NOW HIRING: Barter John needs six apocalyptic scavengers to investigate last month's meteorite impact crater. Rumors of extraterrestrial infestation are to be ignored. Any retrieved Bygone artifacts will be split 60-40. Tools and transportation provided. No mants or boulderoids need apply. General Audience (13+) $3.00 3949 Dungeon Crawl Classics: Return To Punjar, GM: Doug Kovacs, 6 players, Some XP/Simple, Friday 8p-12a. Naive villagers go to the big city to do crimes and get into terrible trouble. NOTE: this game is for teens or adults only, as it may contain drug use and references to the oldest profession. General Audience (13+) $3.00

Saturday

9a 3881 Swords & Wizardry White Box: Keep on the Borderlands, GM: Forest Ray, 8 players, No XP/Simple, Saturday 9a-12p. This is the classic old-school module restated (by me) for Swords & Wizardry white box. If you have played this one in the past be ready for some new twists to this classic game. Characters will be created at game time. Family Friendly (7+) $3.00 3897 1e AD&D: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, Part 1, GM: Shawn Dry, 6 players, No XP/Average, Saturday 9a-1p. Something is amiss in the mountains of the Grand Duchy of Geoff. Experience the beginning of this classic module during this morning session. Each Barrier Peaks session will be a stand-alone adventure; playing in the later sessions is not required, though you are welcome to come back for more. Pregens provided. General Audience (13+) $3.00 3923 Dungeon Crawl Classics: Frozen In Time, GM: Edward Kabara, 6 players, No XP/Simple, Saturday 9a-1p. Eons-old secrets slumber beneath the forbidden Ghost Ice. Since the time of the Elders, the local tribes have shunned the crawling glacier, knowing it as taboo land that slays all who tread its frigid expanse. Now, the Ghost Ice has shattered, revealing hints at deeper mysteries entombed within its icy grasp. Strange machines and wonderful horrors stir beneath the ice. . . . Frozen in Time is a level 1 adventure for any DCC RPG campaign. Family Friendly (7+) $3.00

2p 3847 Dungeon Crawl Classics: Slaves of the Silicon God, GM: Adam Muszkiewicz, 8 players, Some XP/Average, Saturday 2p-7p. Ever since taking up residence in the long-lost jungle temple, the tribe of ape men has grown ever more daring. Now they've gone too far and kidnapped several village youths. The chief is calling for vengeance! The ape men must pay! A Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure for level 1 characters. Adults Only (18+) $3.00 3870 EPT: Tekumel: The Broken Tower of Gilraya Forest, GM: Brett Slocum, 8 players, No XP/Simple, Saturday 2p-6p. Explore The Time of No Kings, Tekumel's age of legends, in this old-school swords-and-sorcery adventure. The stone ruin stood empty for centuries, little more than a tumble of rocks. Is it a castle? A wizard's tower? A monastery? Perhaps a prison? A beautiful queen of the city-state of Rü hires the adventurers to find out and return with the spoils. No knowledge of Tekumel required. General Audience (13+) $3.00 3893 Mutant Crawl Classics RPG: The Warlord of ATOZ, GM: Jim Wampler, 8 players, No XP/Average, Saturday 2p-6p. Masses of dispossessed refugees have begun to flood your jungle village, all telling the tragic tale of a conquering horde of savage warlords armed with magic boom sticks. The invaders claim to follow one of the Ancient Ones from before the Great Disaster--the great and powerful god ATOZ. The tribal elders of your village have elected to send you and your 1st-level mutant friends out on a scouting mission, a mission that will involve stealth, cunning, and luck--as you seek out the power behind "The Warlords of ATOZ." Family Friendly (7+) $3.00 3898 1e AD&D: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, Part 2, GM: Shawn Dry, 6 players, No XP/Average, Saturday 2p-6p. Something is amiss in the mountains of the Grand Duchy of Geoff. Experience a part of this classic module during this session. Each Barrier Peaks session will be a stand-alone adventure; playing in the other sessions is not required, though you are welcome to play any and all of them. Pregens provided. General Audience (13+) $3.00 4310 AD&D 1e/OSRIC: Game with the Creator: It Rose From Below, GM: Bill Barsh, 8 players, No XP/Simple, Saturday 2p-6p. The peaceful morning welcomed the morning sun and the people made their way to the market. Then the earth shuddered and thunderous sound shattered glass. The market square erupted in a shower of stone, dust, and water. A screeching such as made by a thousand banshees pierced the air, causing all within the city to cry out in pain. A spire of black rose from the ground in the center of the market. Reaching a height of several hundred feet, the spire grew no more and all was silent. Fear grips the city and adventurers are needed. For no portals can be found and an expedition into the labyrinth of sewers below the new city must be undertaken to find the entrance to what rose from below. It Rose From Below is an adventure module for the First Edition game using 6 to 8 characters of 4th-level experience. GC4 It Rose From Below is the fourth adventure in the special convention series by Pacesetter Games & Simulations. Although this module is part of an ongoing series, it is not necessary to have played the previous 3 adventures to enjoy this module. This special print module has been produced exclusively for U-Con. General Audience (13+) $3.00

3p 3882 Swords & Wizardry Complete: MCMLXXV (1975), GM: Forest Ray, 6 players, No XP/Simple, Saturday 3p-6p. This module from Frog God games is designed for old-school play. The idea is to find the Monsters, kill them, and take their stuff! Characters will be created at game time. General Audience (13+) $3.00

8p 3856 Swords & Wizardry: Return the Stolen, GM: West Michigan Roleplaying Gamers, 5 players, No XP/Simple, Saturday 8p-12a. For once it is the elves seeking help from the other races to deal with "a small problem." You and your companions will travel over land and sea to seek the All Descendant. All materials and pre-gens provided--players can choose from Paladin (Elf), Cleric/Druid (Human), Fighter (Human) Ranger (Half Elf), Mage (Human), or Bard (Halfling). No experience needed. Game and role-play can be adjusted for young players. For any questions please e-mail Dave Perrin at davidcperrin@hotmail.com Family Friendly (7+) $3.00 3860 Dungeon Crawl Classics: The Tower Out of Time, GM: Roy Snyder, 6 players, No XP/Simple, Saturday 8p-12a. Dungeon Crawl Classics #77.5: The Tower Out of Time, a level 2 adventure by Michael Curtis. You're an adventurer: a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. From out of the past comes an ancient evil to plague the present! A mystifying tower crowned by a blinding blood-red light has appeared in the forest, arriving as a never-before-seen comet burns in the sky above. Is its arrival a harbinger of terrible times ahead? Only those heroes brave enough to confront what lurks behind the inexplicable walls of the Pharos of Scales can solve the mystery! Return to the glory days of fantasy with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Adventure as 1974 intended you to, with modern rules grounded in the origins of sword and sorcery. Fast play, cryptic secrets, and a mysterious past await you. General Audience (13+) $3.00 3891 Cryptworld: Forget-Me-Not, GM: Tim Snider, 6 players, No XP/Simple, Saturday 8p-12a. Horrific axe murders recently committed in Oregon's Tillamook State Forest are identical to those committed by the legendary "Paul Bunyon Butcher" 40 years ago. However, the original killer--now elderly and feeble--remains behind bars. Has a copycat killer surfaced, or is this the work of something even more sinister? General Audience (13+) $3.00 3899 1e AD&D: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, Part 3, GM: Shawn Dry, 6 players, No XP/Average, Saturday 8p-12a. Something is amiss in the mountains of the Grand Duchy of Geoff. Experience the end of this classic module during this session. Each Barrier Peaks session will be a stand alone adventure; playing in the earlier sessions is not required, though you are welcome to play any and all of them. Pregens provided. General Audience (13+) $3.00 3950 Dungeon Crawl Classics: The Spine Wizard's Tower, GM: Doug Kovacs, 6 players, Some XP/Simple, Saturday 8p-12a. A strange tower shows up in the village square overnight. A void-eyed wizard emerges from the tower and declares "Your world is lost! Join me and you will be saved!" Then the wizard disappears into the tower again. Hilarity ensues. General Audience (13+) $3.00 4108 Stars Without Number: Stars Without Number and Other Dust, GM: Andrew Moss, 6 players, No XP/Simple, Saturday 8p-11p. A combination of Kevin Crawford's sci-fi and post-apocalyptic sandbox RPGs. Explore an enormous alien freighter that's cruising the cosmos and capturing ships randomly. Characters will be provided, or bring your own. General Audience (13+) $3.00

Sunday

9a 3883 Stars Without Number: For the Want of a Ship, GM: Forest Ray, 8 players, No XP/Simple, Sunday 9a-12p. You and your companions have gotten word of a old Starship that can be salvaged and put back in service. The only problem is, so have others and not all are human or friendly. Can you and your party find the ship and keep others away while repairs are made? But beware, for not all is as it seems. Characters will be created at game time. General Audience (13+) $3.00 3892 Mutant Crawl Classics RPG: The Museum at the End of Time, GM: Jim Wampler, 8 players, No XP/Average, Sunday 9a-1p. Your band of Level-0 humans, mutants, sentient animals, and walking plants have been set out upon the Rite of Passage in hopes of becoming full-fledged Rovers for your tribes. Venturing through hothouse jungle and across blast-glass desert you soon find the ruins of a green porcelain palace--a treasure trove of ancient artifacts sufficient to satiate desires both subtle and gross. You'll soon rule your tribes, if only you can survive "The Museum at the End of Time." Family Friendly (7+) $3.00

10a 3861 Dungeon Crawl Classics: Glipkerio's Gambit, GM: Roy Snyder, 6 players, No XP/Simple, Sunday 10a-2p. Dungeon Crawl Classics #80.5: Glipkerio's Gambit, a level 2 adventure by Jobe Bittman. You're an adventurer: a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. Atop the highest spire of Mount Tyche, your patron's temple is under attack. A demonic miasma rolls down the frost-blasted peaks leaving a vile stench and foul magics in its wake. Winged black creatures roost along the crumbling solitary road to the temple. The bloodthirsty shrieks of snow apes and the moans of the tortured dead echo from the jagged rocks above. Your patron has saved your skin more times than you can count. Now it is your turn! Return to the glory days of fantasy with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Adventure as 1974 intended you to, with modern rules grounded in the origins of sword and sorcery. Fast play, cryptic secrets, and a mysterious past await you. General Audience (13+) $3.00

1p 3930 Swords & Wizardry Complete: Palace of the Vampire Queen, GM: Ryan Thompson, 10 players, No XP/Average, Sunday 1p-5p. In honor of the 40th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons and Roleplaying, the OSR Track is proud to present it's crown jewel. We will be hosting the first-ever published full-length module, "Palace of the Vampire Queen," being run with the popular clone of the Original Dungeons & Dragons rules, Swords & Wizardry Complete! We hope you can join us for this event to close out the weekend! For 3 centuries the peasants of the Dwarvish island of Baylor have feared the raids of the Vampire Queen and her minions. Sweeping down at night from the palace in the shrouded peaks of the island, they range ever farther in their search for blood. And not only blood--the children of dwarf peasants often disappear if they are so unfortunate as to be out at night. Even the cities are no longer safe. The most recent victim was the Princess of Baylor, daughter of King Arman, who was taken in a midnight raid on the capital city of Ar Toe within the past weeks. King Arman has offered fabulous riches and land holdings with titles to the person or persons who can brace the stronghold of the Vampire Queen and return his daughter to him alive and well. But, in truth, he holds little hope. For even King Arman, Ruler of Baylor, Defeater of the Ten Orc Tribes, is afraid in his heart to face the Vampire Queen. General Audience (13+) $3.00

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Hey there folks. One big announcement to go with this Halloween cheesecake today. Pre-registration for U-con has begun. I will get a full listing of what is happening with the OSR Track up by next week. We have a couple things to take care of first. If you intend to come and run a game, you have until October 17th to do so. You can check out what we have to this point, register or submit a game here.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

It is the first of October. That means some things. Firstly, Halloween closes in. For me that means lots of horror flicks, some Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Type-O-Negative coming out of the speakers and finding a costume for Slick Rick's birthday party. It used to mean a lot of preparation for something far different, and maybe someday it will again (sorry to be cryptic. No, I'm not really sorry.) It also means that U-Con is right around the corner. For the blog though, it means Hump-day Hildebrandt becomes Octhorror Fest. Every Wednesday we will see a monster/horror themed painting. You're welcome.

Look forward to my next "Goldenrod attributes" post some time soon. The first will detail the physical attributes and how they play off of eachother with my house rules. Until then, Dracula on!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Well, I've been promising two things and not pulling though do to lack of time. First, I said I would do a series of fluff posts. I've also been hinting at my "Goldenrod" S&W house rules. Well here is the first in a series of posts about the Goldenrod attributes that will also kick off the Fluff posts! Without further ado, I give a fluff about the six core attributes!

The core attributes are looked at very differently by various groups. Hell, they have similar, but varying, definitions between games and even editions of D&D itself! I figure that if you, the reader, is to understand what I am doing with my house rules, you should understand how I define and utilize the traditional attributes. We are going to examine each of these abilities, what they mean in game, and the fluff of why the mechanics operate that way.

Strength

First on any list is Strength. Strength, as is implied, is a characters raw physical power and musculature. We know, from in game use, that this allows our characters to bend bars, lift gates, carry more weight and open stuck doors. This all makes a great deal of sense since physical power is implied in the name of the attribute. What, however, of the combat related functions? Have you ever thought about this? A character (in OD&D only a Fighter) deals extra damage due to higher strength. This makes sense due to the force behind a blow struck by a heavier hand. But how does the strength score allow one a better chance to hit a foe? This would appear to be more in the realm of the Dex score. This is not, however the case. Simply put, the Strength of a character helps the character recover from weapons speeds and the inertia of the weapon's movement, being able to gain control over the weapon more quickly than a character of with a lower Strength score.

Dexterity
Dexterity is the measure of agility, finesse, hand-eye coordination, grace, balance and reflexes. Dexterity aids in thieving skills as well as aiding when firing a missile weapon, due to hand-eye coordination. Dexterity, I believe, may also factor into saving throws requiring reflexes (in game this would be situational and be determined by the Referee.) There is little fluff that I can add here that I do not presume to be commonly understood by players of the game.

Constitution
Constitution measures the physique, health, resistance and endurance of a character's body. That is to say a character's constitution is the aggregate of all of the character's physical abilities. Constitution determines one's ability to resist poison and endure hardships of the body. As will be seen in future installments, Con being the individual's physical fitness, may also impact the growth of and training physical attributes.

Intelligence
Intelligence measures a character's memory as well as their ability to reason, learn and deal with abstractions. Intelligence also affects the spell casting ability of those who memorize spells by rote.

Wisdom

Wisdom is the measurement of a character's judgement, quile, intuition, ability to apply life experience and parable, mystical attunement and perceptiveness.

Charisma

Charisma is a composite of a character's leadership ability, persuasiveness, charm and personal magnetism, ego and personal will.

Now that I have have given the "fluff" behind the attributes (as I see them) I can move on an present the Goldenrod rules for the given attributes. Keep an eye on the blog if you're interested in what I have coming for the 6 primary attributes and the three additional attributes that I will be presenting!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Good Evening. Prior to my post regarding the U-con OSR Track I had been out of the blogosphere for about a month. I had been prepping things for U-con and working some overtime. Now I'm back. In the coming weeks you will be seeing some material that (with positive feedback) will go into "Goldenrod." I have some classes and ability score house-rules for Swords & Wizardry that I'll be starting to post this weekend. Until then, enjoy this:﻿

Monday, September 8, 2014

Well, I can officially promote what I had originally mentioned here. U-Con officially has an OSR track! What's more? Your's truly is in charge of it. That's right, someone is letting me manage a series of OSR events at a convention. Do they realize what they've unleashed on the great Detroit area? Probably not. Still, this will be awesome.

If you aren't doing anything Nov. 14th - 16th and you're interested in the OSR (or any of those other tracks and games that we'll be rockin' out this year) you should go the the Official U-Con Website and check out what we have going on. If you are a GM register to run an event! If you would like to run an OSR event, there is still time for you to register. To clarify what we are looking at as OSR events:

An OSR event can be any event run on original official Pre-3.0 official D&D system

An OSR event can be any event using a pre-3.0 official (or 3rd party) module, but running on a current Non D&D system (EX: RunningTomb of Horrors using Savage Worlds or Keep On the Borderlands using FATE)

An OSR event can be any event using an "accepted" OSR System, Clone, or Near Clone and/or an OSR module.

If you wish to be listed as an OSR event, please denote that your event is an OSR Track Event in the "Comments" section of the registration form.

If you are an OSR GM/Judge you may qualify to participate in OSR GM only events.

Also, we will be holding a seminar featuring our OSR Guests along with +Adam Muszkiewicz and myself. Yeah Adam. You've been drafted. Doug's my guest, your my General. Oh, I didn't mention that? +Doug Kovacs will be our track's Guest of Honor this year. Let me show everyone off here. From the website:

OSR Track. Going back to D&D’s beginnings, U-Con is proud to announce a new RPG track. The OSR (Old School Roleplaying) movement embraces the principals of our earliest roleplaying adventures and we are eager to foster this renaissance. To launch this new track we are pleased to have four Special Guests from the OSR community:

Please see the Guests of Honor page for photos, bios, and future updates. In the coming weeks we will be sharing the special programming associated with our Guests of Honor and the new OSR Track, and we encourage you to submit any events that are inspired by this announcement. See you in November!

Need more reasons to come/run? This year U-Con's theme is "40 Years of D&D." Who is more representative of that than the OSR? In honor of this, I will be running a "closing game" on the last day of the con using Swords & Wizardry and the first ever published module "Palace of the Vampire Queen." So, yeah. No matter where you're coming from, you should be coming to check out U-Con this year. This is Michigan's new home of the OSR.

Keep your eye on the blog for more updates on the track, from material to be covered in the seminar to what games will be run to where to which Guest of Honor will be sleeping on the floor of my hotel room!

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

I've been thinking a lot on thief abilities in OD&D/S&W and AD&D/OSRIC lately. I have some ideas. No real time to get into it now, but I'll have a post detailing it soon. Possibly the first reflecting some of my Goldenrod Rules.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Good afternoon, folks. If you pay attention to this blog, you will know that I have been meaning to do

post on the unboxing of the new D&D Starter Set and that, due to the video falling through, I made the decision to wait until I had played the game. So, yesterday, I had the opportunity to play it. First off, I will post a few pics from our unboxing, just so you know that this actually happened, also it is proof that these Michigan OSR guys +Adam Muszkiewicz and Ryan Thompson really exist.

In case you have not had the pleasure of meeting either of us, Adam is on the right with the Mountain Dew and super cool Star Wars backpack. I am on the left in in the golden rod tee, Hunter Thompson hat and Fu-Manchu 'stache. Yeah, we're pretty much the awesome.

Here you see a couple of Grognards complaining about the ability score adjustments.

More of the same.

I believe that the game plan at this point was that my Fu-Manchu mustache would distract viewers while Adam was using his hypnotic stare to make you buy multiple copies of the Metal Gods Zine.

The ancient Sumerians were known to offer human sacrifices to my Fu-Manchu

So, just to run down what I remember of what we did here. Right off the bat we opened the box and bitched about the dice. They aren't precision (I think we assumed that anyway) buy neither are they anything special. They were six blue pearlescent dice. That's it. Not even a full set by today's standards. No second D10 to make a D100. I see what they did here, they were six blue dice to make us remember the set that came in earlier boxed sets, but they were weak by comparison. One HUGE factor that we noticed, is that there is ONE D20. That might seem normal, but as there is a mechanic in here that makes you roll 2D20 (Advantage/Disadvantage) and take the better or worse roll (depending upon whether you are ruled to have an advantage or disadvantage.) Yes, you can roll the same d20 twice, but with everyone doing it (especially if you are truly using this Starter Set as your first RPG and thus only owning this ONE D20) will eat a fair amount of time. Bottom line, if you have to roll 2d20 in a game and that game provides you with dice, it should come with 2d20.

That said, between that unboxing and actual play, I like the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic (as described in the above complaint) and I can see it being used as a house rule in an Old School game.

Pardon me for being brief with all of this, but I am certain that most of what I am bringing up here has been covered elsewhere.

During the un-boxing and still holds, is that Adam and I were disappointed the ability score bonuses. We both seemed to be hoping that WOTC would be pushing it back to the B/X ability score modifiers, but we ended up with a repeat of the D20 System scaling. I can get over that bit, but it isn't my preference.

Personally, I like the way that ability checks work (though the game seems a little too Check-centric ala D20 to me,) and that aspect reminds me of the way that Castles & Crusades works. The difference here being that rather than adding your level to your checks, you add a bonus based upon what proficiencies you have. By the same token, the game uses six saving throws, based upon the six ability scores, also just like C&C.

Combat...

Combat itself is pretty straightforward and I'm OK with how it works. That said, I despise how cut & dry the mechanics of "conditions" are. It makes it less role-playey and more "gamey." This has been an issue since 3E and remains here. Dislike. I prefer "conditions" to be in the realm of DM Fiat.

Resting. Here is one of two things in this game I despise. Short rest & long rest. Short rests are little things that take an hour and you can role your hit dice to regain HP. Um... yeah. A long rest is your entire night's rest. During this you get ALL lost HP back. That's right. A good night's sleep gives you back all of you HP. I HATE this as both a player and Judge. Hate, hate, hate. Another area that takes the RPG into the realm of "game" and out of the realm of simulation.

Spellcasting...

Again hate what they did with it. I'm always down for Ritual Magic rules, but not like this. I dislike that you have some spells (mostly utility spells) that you can now cast without using spell slots if cast using a ritual allows you a free spell. Included in these rituals are Identify, Comprehend Languages and Detect Magic. Also, you can use your spells per day to cast any of the spells you have memorized. This is another modern mechanic that removes us from the aspect of requiring resource management into the realm of instant gratification (a side affect of our modern world I suppose.) Lets see what Abraham Simpson has to say about it.

All said and done, "I know what I hate. And I don't hate this." This will NOT be a preferred system for me. That remains with Swords & Wizardry/OD&D, OSRIC/AD&D and C&C. I will, however, be willing to play this. It's probably the best official New D&D product to come out since the 1990's.